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Cameroon’s Dairy Development Landscape
Cameroon’s Dairy Development Landscape
Located between longitudes 8°W and 16°E and latitudes 3°S and 14°S, Cameroon is endowed with ecological diversity giving rise to 5 major agro-ecological zones (Figure I). The Tadu Dairy Development Program is located within 2 of these zones: high plateaux of the West (zone III) within the 2000 mm – 3000 mm isohyets and high guinea savannah of Adamawa (zone II) within the 1200 mm – 2000 mm isohyets. Mean annual temperatures, rainfall and relative humidity are 20.2°C, 2311 mm and 73.3% at Bambui for zone III and 22.0°C, 1533 mm and 67.3% at Wakwa for zone II (Mbah at al, 1987). There are two seasons, the rainy and the dry. The rainy season goes from late March to mid October in zone III while going from April to September/early October in zone II.
The favourable ecological conditions have given rise to good conditions for cattle raising – beef and dairy (Figure II). For 2004 (FAO), there were 5,950,000 head of cattle in Cameroon. About 20% (1,190,000) produced 130,000T of milk (whole, fresh). The dairy potential per animal varies from 1-5 kg depending on the season. Given the growing demand by a population (now about 16,018,000 for 2003) (FAO 2004) growing at 2.3% per year (World Bank, 2005), dairy imports keep increasing at high cost. Imports were 25,147 T (domestic production: 207,005 T) in 2002 (FAO, 2004) (over the 79,195 T for 2001) for whole milk alone. For 2003, imports of milk (conditioned + dry + fresh) were valued at US $21,761,000 (about FCFA 16 billion). Total milk supply (production and imports) was only 12.8 kg/capita which is less than 1/3 of the world average of 45 kg/capita. Beef production of 95,000 T gave an average of only 6 kg/capita (World average is 10 kg/capita). A study by Winrock in 1992 concluded that given current population trends in Sub-Saharan Africa, a 4% annual increase in milk and meat production is required. The Food Security Summit of 7 December 2006 at Abuja recommended and resolved that dairy products constitute a strategic commodity at continental level.
To meet the ever increasing dairy demand, the National Advanced School of Agriculture imported Brown Swiss cattle in 1968 (Tchoumboue and Jousset, 1982) while the Institute in- charge of Animal Research initiated dairy research with local breeds at Bambui (Munji, 1973) and Wakwa (Lhoste and Pierson, 1974). Research efforts quickly turned to imports of European dairy breeds when locals were found inadequate (Lhoste and Pierson, 1974; Munji, 1973). Dairy cattle (including semen) (Holstein, Jersey) were imported from the USA through Heifer Project International from 1974 to 1982 for research and extension. These efforts gave rise to the Bamenda Dairy Cooperative and the “Projet Laitier Pilote de Ngaoundere” (which later became “SOGELAIT”). In the early nineties, the Tadu Dairy Cooperative arrived with an entirely new model based on the grassroots producers and strong interest in artificial insemination. The Tadu model has so far been successfully replicated in other pastoral communities in the Western Highlands, the Adamawa Plateau and across the border into the Mambila higlands of Nigeria.
Research results so far have shown that the crosses between exotic and local breeds are 3-4 times more productive than the locals while being more adapted than pure-bred exotics (Djoko et al, 2003; Tawah et al, 1997). The crosses have been shown to grow faster than the locals and therefore, offer an opportunity to contribute significantly to beef production as well (Tawah et al, 1996). Artificial insemination results have shown that success is higher with natural than synchronized heat on station (Mbah and Messine, 1989) and on farm (TDCS). Artificial insemination is also shown to be more cost effective with large number of cows inseminated, reduced mortality and high weaning rate (TDCS).
The TADU Dairy Development Program
The TADU Dairy Development Program
The TADU Dairy Development Program was initiated in August 1988 by Mr. Lawrence SHANG, in a bid to enhance the performance of the Traditional Pastoral Dairy Production System as then practiced by the Cattle Fulanis of the Western Highlands of Cameroon. In collaboration with MINEPIA and LAND O`LAKES dairy development experts, a baseline survey was conducted to investigate how much surplus milk was available daily during the dry and rainy seasons respectively within a 25 km radius of the TADU Ranch in the Western Highlands. The study also looked at how surplus milk was disposed of, what milk products were made traditionally and how interested cattle breeders were in crossbreeding through artificial insemination, improving local cattle management systems and enhancing their milk processing techniques.
The results of the survey, which polled over 140 Fulani pastoralists, indicated that up to 1000 liters and 3000 liters of milk could be mobilized daily during the dry and rainy seasons respectively within a 25 km radius of the TADU Ranch. It also revealed that traditional pastoralists were extremely interested in crossbreeding and very excited about the possibilities of working together as groups of producers/processors to form cooperatives.
The TADU Dairy Cooperative Society (TDCS), was therefore founded on the 15th of November 1990, by 200 traditional pastoralists, to function as a Multipurpose Cooperative which provides its members with access to new breeds, sustainable cattle management practices and modern dairy processing techniques.
In August 1991, five TADU Dairy Cooperative members journeyed to Land O’Lakes USA, to train in proper Artificial Insemination techniques. In October of the same year, the trainees retuned to TADU and launched the TDCS Cattle Crossbreeding Program. The goal of this program is to provide local pastoralists with quality crossbred dairy animals, which have desirable environmental adaptations, and as such, the capacity to be performant under demanding circumstances. This program has been successfully replicated in several pastoral communities in the Western Highlands, the Adamawa Plateau, and the Mambila Highlands of Nigeria.
In October 1992, five leaders drawn from five separate TADU Dairy Cooperative women’s groups again journeyed to Land O’Lakes for training in Quality Milk Procurement, Handling and Testing Techniques. By November that same year, the trainees returned to TADU and initiated the TDCS Quality Milk Production program. This program which is run entirely by the TDCS Dairy Women’s groups, does not only seek to sustain the economic lives of Fulani Women by enhancing the marketability of their milk and milk products but also to protect the health of consumers.
By 1993, emphasis had shifted from overseas training to in-country training workshops. As such, in February 1993 working in close collaboration with Land O’Lakes Quality Milk Production and Group Organization experts, the five TDCS-US Quality Milk Production trainees, trained more than 250 TDCS women’s group members in Proper Milk Procurement, Handling and Testing Techniques. Furthermore, in August 1993, working in close collaboration with a Land O’Lakes Artificial insemination expert, five TDCS-US trained inseminators trained some 25 TDCS members drawn from five different TDCS pastoral settlements, in Proper Artificial Insemination Techniques.
Despite spectacular results registered by TDCS-US and In-country trained Inseminators and Quality Milk Production Specialists, the over-all performance of the TADU Dairy Development program still left a lot to be desired as some pertinent constraints some-how persisted.
Following the recommendations of the World Bank sponsored evaluation of TDCS operations which was carried out by a multi-disciplinary team of livestock development experts in November 2000, (the Cunningham Report) TDCS was advised, among other things to:
Solicit the direct participation of women in the Cooperative’s Dairy Development Program
Encourage serious membership investment and action on the protection of Rangelands and
Develop a clear Business plan for both the artificial insemination and milk procurement/processing enterprises.
The Smallholder Dairy Development Project (SDDP) was therefore initiated by TDCS in collaboration with Land O’Lakes as a response to the recommendations of the Cunningham Report.
Based on a series of field visits in Western Highlands by the HIPC Rural Development Expert in August 2003, SDDP was broadened in order to address the constraints to National Dairy Development with a focus on the Western Highlands and the Adamawa Plateau which constitute the two major milk farming basins in Cameroon.
In October 2003, SDDP was presented to the Consultative and Follow-up Committee for the Management of HIPC Resources (CCS-PPTE) by TDCS in collaboration with MINEPIA. After thorough examination by CCS-PPTE experts, the SDDP was approved for funding.
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